Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon…eating their way through Italy
“THE TRIP TO ITALY” My rating: B (Opening on Aug. 29 at the Glenwood Arts and Tivoli)
108 minutes | No MPAA rating
Fans of the 2010 buddy film “The Trip” will feel right at home with the sequel. There are no surprises here.
Once again we have Brit comic actors Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan portraying slightly fictionalized versions of themselves on a cross-country trek, this time through glorious Italy.
Once again they spend much of their time eating scrumptious food and engaging in chatter that looks suspiciously like the conversational version of hand-to-hand combat. When these two egomaniacs square off, it’s a virtual comedy competition.
Early on, Coogan warns Brydon that he will tolerate no celebrity imitations this time around. This pronouncement may momentarily dampen our enthusiasm (watching the two trying to upstage each other by mimicking Michael Caine was one of the first film’s great wonders), but it soon becomes apparent that Coogan’s dictate has no teeth.
Because for the next 90 minutes we see the two of them (mostly Brydon this time) comically conversing in the voices of Caine, Clint Eastwood, Sean Connery, Richard Burton, Christian Bale, Anthony Hopkins, Al Pacino, Woody Allen, Hugh Grant, Dustin Hoffman, Truman Capote, Gore Vidal and Humphrey Bogart.
Writer/director Michael Winterbottom (he comes up with the situations and lets his two stars improvise) employs precisely the same format as in the first movie. Both films began as limited TV series and were boiled down to 90-minute movies. There are lots of funny conversations while the two are driving around. Funny conversations while they’re eating gourmet meals. Funny conversations while they try to impress any single female they encounter. (Coogan dryly notes that young women no longer notice them, that they are now viewed as “a benevolent uncle — or a pest”).
There have been a few developments. In the first film it was Coogan who violated the marriage bed by having a fling with a lady photographer. This time around Coogan is on the wagon, dealing with his teenage son (Timothy Leach) and acting his age. It is now Brydon– who has a wife and young daughter at home — who displays a wandering eye.
There is, of course, some fantastic scenery captured by cinematographer James Clarke: Tuscany, Rome, Naples, the ruins of Pompei (Brydon has a wonderful “conversation” with one of the volcano’s victims, on display in a glass box), catacombs filled with Christian bones, beautiful beaches, stunning vistas along the Amalfi Coast.
And against this lush backdrop we get some hysterical conversations about possible pronunciations of pop singer Alanis Morisette’s name, about embalming, about the latest “Batman” movie, and about the poets Byron and Shelley, who 200 years ago fled stuffy England for the Bohemian life in Italy.
Like its predecessor, “The Trip to Italy” pays lip service to some serious themes — infidelity, parenting — but doesn’t let itself get bogged down in angst. If you’re so inclined you may find here some thoughts about the competitive nature of male bonding. But mostly this movie is about laughing. And you will.
| Robert W. Butler
Butler's Cinema Scene 
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